It’s 5:20 on a Wednesday Hawaiian morning and Dakota Prukop’s mission to catch up on sleep is interrupted. He’s got a fresh brewed cup of coffee in hand as he calls in for an interview on the Dan Patrick Show — one of many interviews he’s done over the past week.
“I’m not much of a coffee drinker,” Prukop says laughing. “But I needed it this morning.”
Instead of sleeping from Friday to Sunday, Prukop was touching all corners of the country on a last-minute recruiting trail. He flew from Montana to Oregon on Friday, before taking a red eye flight to Alabama on Saturday. He finally headed to Hawaii on Sunday for a post-graduation vacation.
On Tuesday, Prukop’s whirlwind recruiting experience came to an end after he told Fox Sports he would transfer from Montana State to Oregon for his final college football season.
Going from being Montana State’s starting quarterback less than a month ago to being one of the most coveted assets in college football in a matter of weeks was surreal for Prukop.
“It kind of hit me when I was visiting Oregon,” Prukop said, “because this has been a goal of mine for the past eight or nine years — to be able to compete at one of the highest levels. I’ve always wanted that and it’s pretty neat to see to see this kind of a goal come into fruition.”
Prukop, who graduated with a degree in economics, can enroll in January once he passes his GRE exam and is admitted into Oregon.
Playing quarterback, anywhere, in college wasn’t something Prukop believed he could do until a quarter of the way through his senior season at Vandegrift High School in Austin, Texas. He could run a 4.5 40-yard dash, and at 6-foot-2, he was recruited by Texas Tech, Southern Methodist and Rice as a defensive back.
Then, Prukop said he fell in love with the idea of playing quarterback and nothing was going to change it — even if he knew he had a better immediate future as a defensive back.
“By then, I knew I was way too late to even consider playing quarterback for a Football Bowl Subdivision school,” Prukop said. “So I was super grateful to even have the opportunity to go to a great program like Montana State as a quarterback.”
In May of Prukop’s freshman year at MSU he went back to Texas and started working with a renowned quarterback guru. He spent a week at Texas A&M under the tutelage of George Whitfield Jr. Whitfield’s resume precedes himself — he’s worked with many college and professional quarterbacks, including former Heisman Trophy winners Johnny Manziel and Cam Newton. Prukop said that Whitfield instilled confidence in him.
“[Whitfield] bought into me from day one,” Prukop said. “I’ve always wanted to be one of his best prized ponies.”
Whitfield took to Twitter on Monday to congratulate Prukop.
There’s a new sheriff in Eugene, OR! Couldn’t be more excited for my guy, Dakota Prukop. #Ducks #SlayOn pic.twitter.com/IJGTU7bXvD
— George Whitfield Jr. (@georgewhitfield) December 16, 2015
Because Prukop didn’t think of playing quarterback in college until his senior year of high school, he considered himself a step behind the rest of the competition. He entered Montana State as an athlete playing quarterback. He needed time to develop. After redshirting his freshman year, and working with Whitfield, Prukop got the development required.
He became a starter in 2014, and last year, Prukop threw for 28 touchdowns and 3,025 yards while rushing for 11 touchdowns and a net gain of 797 yards.
“I made it a goal of mine to be referred to as a quarterback who had athleticism,” Prukop said. “I think that’s kind of where I’m at now, but there’s still much more to go.”
Still, making the move from Bozeman, Montana, to Eugene, Oregon was something Prukop didn’t consider until Montana State’s season ended on Nov. 21, after a 54-35 loss to in-state rival Montana. He saw former Big Sky Conference opponent Vernon Adams Jr. make the successful jump from the Eastern Washington to Oregon less than a year ago, giving Prukop the idea he could make the leap too.
But first he needed to see what some of his other teammates thought about the idea. Montana State wide receiver Mitchell Herbert was one of the first people Prukop called. Herbert, a native of Eugene whose brother, Justin Herbert, is committed to play quarterback for Oregon next season, was the perfect person for Prukop to discuss the idea with.
The news came as a shock to Herbert, but after letting the reality that his quarterback was probably leaving sink in, he gave his support.
“Playing with him, I could tell he was a great quarterback and that he could play at the FBS level,” Herbert said, “but I didn’t think he was going to make that move until he called last week and said he was visiting Oregon. I knew he could do it, but selfishly I wanted him to stay and be my quarterback for his last year.”
“[Herbert] was one of the guys I wanted to test the waters with a little bit and bounce the idea off of him and see what he thought about me transferring,” Prukop said. “He had nothing but support.”
With the support of his teammates and his family, Prukop elected to make the transfer to Oregon.
At Oregon, Prukop is being looked at as the heir apparent to a position that’s had the most efficient passer in college football — Marcus Mariota (181.74) and Vernon Adams Jr. (179.6) — over the past two seasons. And while it took him a while to get to Oregon, Prukop appreciates the long, developmental journey that took him from Texas to Montana. He even appreciates the lack of sleep he had from a wild cross-country recruiting weekend.
“I’m a firm believer in everything happens for a reason,” he said. “It was a cool experience and something I will never forget and I would do it over again. I don’t regret anything.”
Follow Joseph Hoyt on Twitter @JoeJHoyt.
